Carra nets 1,000th point of college career, but keeps focus on Blue Hens

Much like she did in high school, Lauren Carra shied from congratulations Thursday night.

The University of Delaware senior netted 16 points in the Blue Hens' 69-53 loss to ninth-ranked Maryland, reaching the 1,000-point plateau for her college career on a free throw in the first half.

"I really was going back to how I was in high school: I don't look at milestones like scoring points or anything like that," said Carra, a 2009 Dunmore graduate. "The main focus is on what I can bring to the team and make us better, what can get us to the championship.

"Right now we have six seniors on the team. It's our goal to just lead the team in whatever way we can."

One of those seniors is Wilmington, Del., native Elena Delle Donne, who has missed a good portion of the season battling the effects of Lyme Disease. Delle Donne, an All-American who averages 26.9 points per game at Delaware, played Thursday - her first game since Nov. 20. Delle Donne finished with 19 points and six rebounds.

In her absence, players like Carra have tried to rally the team. But with strategies in flux, the team struggles to find a rhythm.

"It's hard to take a player like that out of the system and try and play, and then put that player back in the system, and try and play again," Carra said. "Right now it's kind of up and down. I think we're still trying to find ourselves."

Carra added six rebounds Thursday, in front of 5,089 in attendance - a women's basketball record at Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center.

Still, the urgency to succeed is there for the Blue Hens, especially Carra.

As a senior, this could be the last year she plays the sport she has loved since she was young.

But the history major hopes to stay around basketball as a coach.

"It's hard to think that all of those years I've been playing basketball are about to come down to one," she said. "It's a feeling the seniors share, that this is the last hurrah for all of us

"We don't want to go out on a bad note. Right now we're on a level we don't want to be on. We're working to get where we want to be."

Contact the writer: ateatum@timesshamrock.com

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